Radio station in Sun City, Arizona, United States
KOMR (106.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Sun City, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is owned by Univision and it airs a Spanish Adult Contemporary radio format, calling itself "Amor 106.3". The studios are on South 30th Street in Phoenix.
KOMR is a Class C2 station with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 23,000 watts. The transmitter is off North Castle Hot Springs Road in Peoria.[1]
History
KTPM
The first attempt of a radio station on 106.3 FM in Sun City was KTPM. It was on the air for less than seven months after signing on the air on June 13, 1962; 61 years ago (June 13, 1962).[2] It was co-owned with Wickenburg's KAKA by Lowell Beer and Paul Mullenix. In that era, many radio listeners didn't have FM receivers and they were mostly unavailable in cars.
KTPM was one of the quickest failures in Arizona radio history. It went silent on January 2, 1963.[3] It never returned to the air. The Beer-Mullenix licenses were placed into receivership in June.[4] They never reemerged from bankruptcy.
KWAO, KMZK, KONC, KEDJ
The current KOMR signed on the air on March 7, 1975; 49 years ago (March 7, 1975). Its call sign was KWAO. It began broadcasting with a new license but still used the same the tower as the defunct KTPM. KWAO targeted listeners in Sun City (a retirement community near Phoenix) with an easy listening format.[5] The station was sold in 1983 to Larry Mazursky's Canyon Communications Corporation, relaunching as contemporary KMZK "Muzik 106".[6] A couple of years later, the station flipped to classical music.
In late 1985, Mazursky sold KLFF, an adult standards station, to Affiliated Broadcasting. Affiliated was the new owner of KONC, the primary classical station in Phoenix. A condition of the sale required low-rated KMZK to vacate the classical format, and KMZK became a country music station.[7] That would prove short-lived when, in March 1986, Affiliated flipped KONC to adult contemporary music as KAMJ. While Affiliated's acquisition of KFLR for classical music languished, Mazursky announced plans to revert KMZK to classical music, prompting Affiliated to ditch its own classical plans.[8] In addition, KMZK became KONC. Throughout the 1980s, KONC was used on an electronic program guide on United Cable.
KONC dropped classical music at 6 p.m. on January 15, 1993, when it flipped to a modern rock/alternative format as KEDJ, known as "The Edge." That left Phoenix without a classical station for three months, when KBAQ signed on the air as a public station. KEDJ upgraded to Class C2 status after another station was moved from 106.3 in Arizona City to 106.5 in the late 1990s.
Recuerdo and Amor
In 2001, Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (a predecessor to Univision Radio) acquired the station. The company flipped 106.3 FM to a Spanish-language adult contemporary format called "Amor." FM 106.3 began simulcasting with 106.5 KKMR and 100.3 KQMR. Moments after the format change, the owners of 103.9 FM, which was then Rhythmic Contemporary KPTY, purchased the rights to the KEDJ Alternative Rock format. But the company did not continue the contract to carry the syndicated Howard Stern Show, which had been on 106.3 and 100.3. The deal also included transferring the call letters and "The Edge" moniker to 103.9 FM. Three call sign changes in 15 days followed until 106.3 became KOMR.
In October 2005, Univision made adjustments to the "Amor" format, making it more oldies-driven, and changed the name to "Recuerdo".
On February 6, 2018, Univision dropped the "Más Variedad" Spanish Adult Hits format and switched it to Spanish AC as Amor 106.3. Some of the music and radio shows are carried from KBRG in San Jose and KRDA in Fresno. Those two stations also carry the "Amor" format. The “Amor” stations are similar to 107.5 KLVE in Los Angeles, which is one of the most listened Spanish language radio stations in the United States.
